Can GOP neutralize immigration as election issue?

ASSOCIATED PRESS

March 10, 2014 12:47 AM

FILE - In this Oct. 23, 2013, file photo, Rep. Mike Coffman, R-Colo., applauds during a briefing to call for reform of the immigration system on Capitol Hill in Washington. If the apparent slow death of immigration legislation has any political repercussions this year, they are likely to be felt in the swath of subdivisions, shopping centers and ethnic eateries wrapped around the southern end of Denver. Coffman represents this fast-changing district. He is among a handful of vulnerable Republican congressmen immigrant rights advocates plan to target if the House doesn't pass an immigration bill before the election offering legal status to millions of people who either entered the U.S. illegally or overstayed their visas.(AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)AP

ASSOCIATED PRESS

March 10, 2014 12:47 AM

AURORA, Colo. -- If the apparent slow death of immigration legislation has any political repercussions this year, they probably will be felt in the subdivisions, shopping centers and ethnic eateries wrapped around Denver's southern end.

U.S. Rep. Mike Coffman represents this fast-changing district.

He's among a few vulnerable Republican members in line to be targeted by immigrant rights advocates if the House doesn't pass an immigration bill before the November election that would offer legal status to millions of people who entered the U.S. illegally or overstayed their visas.

The issue is no easy solution for Democrats needing to gain 17 seats to win back the House majority. Democratic campaign officials are focusing on about two dozen GOP-held seats where immigration could be a factor, but they rank only nine in the top tier of possible pickups.

Immigration advocates acknowledge their impact on House races this year is limited. Most Republicans hold safe seats in districts with relatively low numbers of immigrants. Coffman is a vulnerable incumbent, but the lawmaker's shift on the issue illustrates difficulties Democrats may have.

Coffman was elected in 2008 to succeed immigration firebrand Rep. Tom Tancredo, a fellow Republican. Coffman initially backed measures such as barring U.S. citizenship to children whose parents were in the country without legal permission. Coffman also supported allowing English-only ballots in districts with large immigrant populations.

But his district was redrawn to include immigrant-heavy Aurora. After seeing fast-growing Hispanic and Asian populations overwhelmingly back Democrats in 2012, Coffman embraced citizenship for people brought to the U.S. illegally as children. He announced his new position in Spanish.

Coffman stopped short of backing a broader proposal to legalize more of the people in the country illegally, but he was one of the few House Republicans at a recent party meeting in Maryland to urge his colleagues to pursue an immigration bill.

Seeing divisions within the GOP and saying that Republicans don't trust President Barack Obama to enforce the law, House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, has said immigration legislation is unlikely to reach the House floor until after the election.

"The fact that immigration reform has disappeared kind of takes it off the table," said Floyd Ciruli, a nonpartisan Denver-based pollster. Coffman "is doing everything he can to make it a less salient issue," Ciruli said.